Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus oc­cu­pies nar­row bands of short to mid-grass prairies from cen­tral Texas in the south to just north of the Cana­dian-United States bound­ary. His­tor­i­cally, the range of black-tailed prairie dogs was greater. They were found from Ne­braska in the east to Mon­tana in the west. They ranged from Canada in the north to Mex­ico in the south. How­ever, in­ten­sive ef­forts at erad­i­ca­tion of these an­i­mals by ranch­ers have re­duced the species to a few iso­lated pop­u­la­tions as­so­ci­ated mainly with pro­tected lands. (Hoff­man, 1999; Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus oc­cu­pies a rel­a­tively re­stricted range of open, level, arid, short-grass plains. These prairie dogs are com­monly found near river flats or in coulee bot­tom­lands where sage­brush, grease­wood, and prickly pear grow. They are never found in moist areas. (Hoff­man, 1999; Hoog­land, 1995; Nowak, 1999)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland

• Range elevation

  1,300 to 2,000 m

  to ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus varies in length be­tween 352 and 415 mm. Sex­ual di­mor­phism is preva­lent, with males mea­sur­ing greater in total length than fe­males (male range: 358 to 415 mm; fe­male range: 352-375 mm). Males also tend to be be­tween 10 and 15% heav­ier than fe­males, weigh­ing in be­tween 850 and 1,675 g, com­pared to fe­males which weigh be­tween 705 and 1,050 g. Weight varies sea­son­ally, with both males and fe­males reach­ing their high­est weights in the au­tumn, and low­est weights in win­ter. (Hoff­man, 1999; Hoog­land, 1996)

Black-tailed prairie dogs un­dergo two molts per year, with slightly dif­fer­ent pelage col­oration in each molt. The gen­eral col­oration is brown­ish to brown­ish-red dor­sally, with whitish fur on the ven­trum. Dur­ing the sum­mer, in­di­vid­ual hairs are mixed, with some being banded (black at the base, with a whitish band, then a cin­na­mon band, fol­lowed by a sub­ter­mi­nal buff band, and a black tip), and some col­ored ei­ther solid black or half black. The lat­ter type of hairs are longer than banded hairs and are in­ter­spersed in the coat. In win­ter, the banded hairs are dif­fer­ent, with black at the base, fol­lowed by buff, then cin­na­mon, and pos­sess­ing a white tip. Fe­males have 8 gray­ish mam­mae that are vis­i­ble only dur­ing preg­nancy and lac­ta­tion. (Hoog­land, 1996)

Black-tailed prairie dogs are eas­ily dis­tin­guished from Mex­i­can prairie dogs be­cause of non-over­lap­ping ge­o­graphic ranges. In ad­di­tion, C. lu­dovi­cianus is eas­ily dis­tin­guished from mem­bers of the sub­genus Leu­cocrossuromys (in­clud­ing Gun­ni­son's prairie dogs, white-tailed prairie dogs, and Utah prairie dogs). In ad­di­tion to hav­ing mainly non-over­lap­ping ranges, mem­bers of Leu­cocrossuromys all hi­ber­nate, have white- to gray-tipped tails, have smaller mo­lars, and pos­sess dis­tinctly dif­fer­ent ter­ri­to­r­ial and an­tipreda­tor vo­cal­iza­tions than do black-tailed prairie dogs.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  705 to 1,675 g

  24.85 to oz

• Range length

  352 to 415 mm

  13.86 to 16.34 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  2.358 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Mat­ing is closely re­lated to so­cial struc­ture in these an­i­mals. The typ­i­cal mat­ing pat­tern is polyg­y­nous, with a sin­gle male mat­ing with mul­ti­ple fe­males in his home co­terie. How­ever, in some cases, more than one male may be res­i­dent in a sin­gle, large co­terie. In these cases, fe­males within the co­terie may mate with both res­i­dent males. In such cases, the first male to cop­u­late with the fe­male sires more off­spring than does the sec­ond. Ad­di­tion­ally, there ap­pears to be some com­mu­nal nurs­ing of young after the time they ap­pear above ground, qual­i­fy­ing the species for sta­tus as a co­op­er­a­tive breeder. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

• Mating System
• polygynous
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)
• cooperative breeder

Re­pro­duc­tion oc­curs once per year, with the exact tim­ing of mat­ing vary­ing with lat­i­tude. In Ok­la­homa, breed­ing takes place in Jan­u­ary; in Col­orado breed­ing takes place in Feb­ru­ary. Be­tween late Feb­ru­ary and March,balck-tailed prairie dogs in South Dakota breed. Fi­nally, those an­i­mals re­sid­ing in the north­ern por­tions of the species range breed in late March and early April. Fe­males of this species are typ­i­cally sex­u­ally re­cep­tive only one day of the year. Fe­males fail­ing to con­ceive after this ini­tial es­trus some­times enter es­trus a sec­ond time about 13 days after their first es­trus. (Hoog­land, 1995)

Ap­prox­i­mately 98% of mat­ings in C. lu­dovi­cianus occur un­der­ground. This prob­a­bly helps to re­duce in­ter­male com­pe­ti­tion for fe­males. Sev­eral be­hav­iors are as­so­ci­ated with mat­ing both un­der­ground and above ground. These in­clude fre­quent en­trance of a breed­ing male and es­trus fe­male into the same bur­row; very high fre­quency of in­ter­ac­tion be­tween the male and fe­male; self lick­ing of gen­i­tals in both male and fe­male; gath­er­ing of nest­ing ma­te­ri­als by males, and trans­port of those ma­te­ri­als into a bur­row; and a later than nor­mal night­time en­trance into the bur­row by es­trus fe­males. In ad­di­ton, male black-tailed prairie dogs have a unique vo­cal­iza­tion that is as­so­ci­ated only with mat­ing be­hav­iors. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

Ges­ta­tion ranges in length from 33 to 38 days, with a mean of 34.6 days. Lit­ter sizes ate birth range from 1 to 8 young, with a mean lit­ter size at emer­gence from the bur­row of 3 young. Young are al­tri­cial, being born blind, naked, and mostly help­less. Neonates mea­sure ap­prox­i­mately 70 mm in length, and weigh an av­er­age of 15 g. Fur is ev­i­dent by the age of 3 weeks, and eyes are open by ap­prox­i­mately 5 weeks of age. The age at wean­ing varies with lit­ter size, as larger lit­ters nurse longer than smaller lit­ters. Lac­ta­tion lasts from 37 to 51 days, with a mean of 41.3 days. The ter­mi­na­tion of lac­ta­tion oc­curs shortly after emer­gence from the natal bur­row, and after emer­gence but prior to the end of lac­ta­tion, pups may nurse from fe­males other than their own mother. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

Sex­ual di­mor­phism in size is al­ready es­tab­lished by the time ju­ve­niles emerge from tehir natal bur­rows. Males weigh an av­er­age of 147 g at emer­gence and fe­males weigh an av­er­age of 141 g. By Oc­to­ber, males have acheived an av­er­age weight of 556 g, and fe­males an av­er­age of 532 g. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

Fe­males re­main in their natal co­terie for life, but males dis­perse as year­lings. This re­sults in min­i­miza­tion of in­breed­ing. Also, adult males rarely re­main within the same co­terie for more than two breed­ing sea­sons, thus re­duc­ing the pos­si­bil­ity that they will mate with their fe­male off­spring. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

The age of sex­ual ma­tu­rity varies. Al­though most black-tailed prairie dogs cop­u­late for the first time as two-year-olds, some reach ma­tu­rity ear­lier or later. Among fe­males, 35% breed as year­lings, 60% breed as two-year-olds, and 5% delay re­pro­duc­tion until they are 3 years old. Males show sex­ual asym­me­try, being less likely than fe­males to breed as year­lings, and more likely than fe­males to dely re­pro­duc­tion until their third year. Among males, 6% breed as year­ling, 70% as two-year-olds, and 24% breed in their third year. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

Fe­male C. lu­dovi­cianus who mate do not al­ways pro­duce lit­ters. Suc­cess­ful re­pro­duc­tion is pos­i­tively re­lated to fe­male age. Only 54% of year­ling fe­males who cop­u­late sub­se­quently give birth, com­pared to 89% of fe­males over the age of 2 years who cop­u­lated. Fail­ure to give birth re­sults from both fail­ure of con­cep­tion, re­sorp­tion of em­bryos, and mis­car­riage of preg­nan­cies. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Females of this species are able to breed once per year.

• Breeding season

  Breeding occurs between January and April, depending upon latitude.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 6

• Average number of offspring

  3

• Average number of offspring

  4

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  33 to 38 days

• Average gestation period

  34.6 days

• Range weaning age

  27 to 51 days

• Average weaning age

  41.3 days

• Range time to independence

  1 to 2 years

• Average time to independence

  1 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 to 3 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 to 3 years

Cyno­mys lodovi­cianus pups are al­tri­cial. They re­quire a large in­vest­ment by par­ents in order to en­sure their sur­vival. Males are not di­rectly in­volved in car­ing for young, but help to pro­tect pups within their co­ter­ies by de­fend­ing the co­terie against strange males. The bulk of parental care is pro­vided by fe­males, who nurse, groom, and pro­tect their off­spring. Be­cause of the prevalance of in­fan­ti­cide in this species, young are very vul­ner­a­ble prior to emer­gence from their natal bur­rows. After emer­gence from the bur­row, how­ever, young are less vul­ner­a­ble. They eat solid foods pri­mar­ily, al­though they con­tinue to nurse for about one week. In­ter­est­ingly, fe­males in the co­terie fre­quently nurse emer­gent pups other than their own off­spring. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• post-independence association with parents
• inherits maternal/paternal territory

Lifes­pan/Longevity

As is true for most mam­mals, most black-tailed prairie dogs die young. Only 54% of fe­males and 47% of males who emerge from their natal bur­rows sur­vive their first year of life. Fe­males can live to be up to eight years old, whereas males don't tend to live longer than 5 years under nat­ural con­di­tions. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  8 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  1 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  8.5 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Prairie dogs are the most so­cial of the ground- dwelling sci­urids. Prairie dog colonies, or towns, may con­tain hun­dreds of in­di­vid­u­als liv­ing within a very re­stricted area. (The largest colony ever recorded oc­cured in Texas. It cov­ered an area of 65,000 km^2 and con­tained and es­ti­mated 400 mil­lion of an­i­mals.) Within the town there are cer­tain neigh­bor­hoods, or co­ter­ies. Fe­males typ­i­cally re­main in their natal co­terie, whereas males dis­perse to a nearby co­terie. Each co­terie is pop­u­lated by a group of closely re­lated fe­males (sis­ter, moth­ers, aunts) and one or two ter­ri­to­r­ial males. When mul­ti­ple males are found in a sin­gle co­terie, they are often broth­ers. Ter­ri­to­ries are de­fended ag­gres­sively from neigh­bors. (Hoff­man, 1999; Hoog­land, 1995)

Within the co­terie, all things are shared most of the time. Bur­row sys­tems and food sup­plies are com­mu­nal prop­erty. The only ex­cep­tion to this is dur­ing rear­ing of young, when fe­males are ag­gres­sive to­ward one an­other and de­fend their bur­rows and nests from other prairie dogs. Ter­ri­to­r­ial de­fense is usu­ally shared by all mem­bers of the co­terie. Male prairie dogs re­spond strongly to in­tru­sions of other male prairie dogs, but seem obliv­i­ous to in­vad­ing fe­males. Fe­male prairie dogs, by con­trast, show the most ag­gres­sion to­ward in­vad­ing fe­males. (Hoog­land, 1995)

Praire dogs have long been noted for their highly so­cial be­hav­ior. There is often play­ing, muz­zling, mutal groom­ing, and a great deal of vocal com­mu­ni­ca­tion. For in­stance, when a prairie dog spots a preda­tor, such as a hawk, bad­ger or black-footed fer­ret, it raises an alarm call, alert­ing its neigh­bors. All of the prairie dogs hear­ing this cry quickly scut­tle into their bur­rows for pro­tec­tion.` (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

The only time there is strife with a co­terie is dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son. Fe­males dis­play dom­i­nance re­la­tion­ships only when they are preg­nant and lac­tat­ing. Dur­ing this time, fe­males fight, and when they have the op­por­tu­nity, they raid the bur­rows of other fe­males and kill the pups they find there. It is not sur­pris­ing that dur­ing this time, fe­males ag­gres­siv­ley de­fend their natal bur­row against other fe­males. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

Once the young come above ground, how­ever, har­mony re­turns to the co­terie. In­deed, young have been ob­served fol­low­ing the "wrong" mother into a bur­row at night. The fe­male nurses the young­ster as if it were her own. It is not cer­tain whether moth­ers can dis­tin­guish their young from the young of other moth­ers once the young have come above ground. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus is di­ur­nal and ac­tive through­out the year. Un­like many other species of prairie dogs, these an­i­mals do not hi­ber­nate. While they are ac­tive obove ground, ob­servers might see them en­gag­ing in a va­ri­ety of be­hav­ior, in­clud­ing mov­ing dirt around to en­hance bur­row en­trances, col­lect­ing nest­ing ma­te­r­ial, and scratch­ing at fleas. (Hoog­land, 1995)

As might be ex­pected from the de­vo­tion of these an­i­mals to en­hanc­ing their bur­rows, the sys­tem of tun­nels, nest­ing cham­bers, and mounds within a col­ogy can be quite com­plex. They are used for pro­tec­tion from the el­e­ments, as well as from preda­tors. En­trances are usu­ally from 10 to 30 cm in di­am­e­ter, al­though tun­nels nar­row a bit un­der­ground. Bur­rows mea­sure an av­er­age of 5 to 10 m in length and 2 to 3 m in depth. How­ever, bur­rows may be as long as 33 m amd as deep as 5 m. A co­terie may have as many as 70 bur­row en­trances and­cover 1/3 of a hectare. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

There are three types of en­trances to a C. lu­dovi­cianus bur­row. The most con­spic­u­ous type re­sem­bles a mi­na­ture vol­cano, and has a high mound of dirt molded into a rim crater. Rim craters range in size from 1 to 1.5 m in di­am­e­ter and can be as tall as 1 m. Rounded, un­struc­tured mounds called dome craters may also be pre­sent. These are from 2 to 3 m in di­am­e­ter, but are usu­ally not taller than 0.3 m. The mounds of both types of craters allow in­di­vid­u­als to see the sur­round­ing ter­ri­tory to scan for preda­tors. They also help pre­vent flood­ing in the bur­row, and in­crease ven­ti­la­tion of the bur­row. The bur­rows as­so­ci­ated with both types af craters are ap­par­ently used for avoid­ing preda­tors, spend­ing the night, and rear­ing off­spring. The final type of bur­row en­trance has no not­i­ca­ble mound at all. Such en­trances to bur­rows are often found near the edge of the co­terie ter­ri­tory. These bur­rows are ap­par­ently used only to es­cape preda­tors and the heat of the day. They are not used at night or for rear­ing off­spring. (Hoog­land, 1995)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• fossorial
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social
• colonial
• dominance hierarchies

• Average territory size

  333 m^2

Home Range

A co­terie may cover 1/3 of a hectare. (Hoog­land, 1995)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion within C. lu­dovi­cianus as been well stud­ied. As might be ex­pected from such a highly so­cial species, means of com­mu­ni­ca­tion are var­ied. Black-tailed prairie dogs have 12 dis­tinct calls, in­clud­ing an­tipreda­tor calls, and the con­spic­u­ous "jump-yip", in which an in­di­vid­ual stretches to its full height on hind legs, then throws the forefeet into the air as it calls. The jump-yip call of one in­di­vid­ual seems to ex­cite other mem­bers of the co­terie, as well as in­di­vid­u­als in ad­ja­cent co­ter­ies, into pro­duc­ing their own "jump-yip" calls. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

In ad­di­tion to vocal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, C. lu­dovi­cianus em­ploys phys­i­cal con­tact (groom­ing, nuzzel­ing, play­ing, fight­ing), as well as vi­sual sig­nals for com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Sniff­ing of other in­di­vid­u­als oc­curs, and im­plies some chem­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, es­pe­cially in the con­text of mat­ing. (Hoog­land, 1995)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Black-tailed prairie dogs eat pri­mar­ily leaves, stems, and roots of grasses, weeds, and forbs. Al­though veg­etable mat­ter com­prises over 98% of the diet, an­i­mal mat­ter may somteimes be in­gested. The an­i­mals typ­i­cally eaten by prairie dogs are grasshop­pers, cut­worms, bugs, and bee­tles. Black-tailed prairie dogs do not need to drink water in order to get the mois­ture they need to sur­vive. They ob­tain all the mois­ture they need from their moist, leafy foods. Most prairie dogs for­age close to their bur­rows when pos­si­ble, mov­ing into dis­tant for­ag­ing areas only when forced to do so by local short­ages of green shoots. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus for­ages se­lec­tively from the plants avail­able in its habi­tat. Diet also varies sea­son­ally. In the sum­mer, black-tailed prairie dogs pre­fer to feed upon wheat­grass (g. Agopy­ron), buf­falo grass (g. Bro­mus), grama (g. Bouteloua), rab­bit­bush (g. Chru­sotham­nus), and scar­let glob­mal­low. In the win­ter, they eat prickly pear cac­tus (g. Op­un­tia), this­tles (g. Cir­sium), and var­i­ous roots. (Hoog­land, 1995)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• roots and tubers
• wood, bark, or stems
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• flowers

Pre­da­tion

Black-tailed prairie dogs fall vic­tim to a va­ri­ety of preda­tory species. Ter­res­trial preda­tors in­clude coy­otes, bad­gers, lynx, black-footed fer­rets, rat­tlesnakes, and bull­snakes. Avian preda­tors in­clude prairie fal­cons, golden ea­gles, and a va­ri­ety of hawks (Ac­cip­iter and Buteo). (Hoog­land, 1995)

The great­est de­fense that C. lu­dovi­cianus has against preda­tors is ex­actly the same thing which makes the species so vul­ner­a­ble to preda­tors; namely, the num­ber of an­i­mals liv­ing to­gether in a colony. Be­cause there are so many prairie dogs in a sin­gle colony, colonies at­tract the no­tice of preda­tors. But, be­cause there are so many prairie dogs pre­sent, all scan­ning their en­vi­ron­ment pe­ri­od­i­cally, preda­tors are read­ily de­tected by these ro­dents. When a preda­tor is no­ticed, in­di­vid­ual prairie dogs give alarm calls, warn­ing their rel­a­tives that dan­ger is near. The prairie dogs can then take shel­ter im­me­di­ately in one of the many bur­rows nearby. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• aposematic

• Known Predators

  • coyotes Canis latrans
  • badgers Taxidea taxus
  • black-footed ferrets Mustela nigripes
  • lynx Lynx rufus
  • bullsnakes Pituophis melanoleucus
  • rattlesnakes Crotalus
  • golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos
  • prairie falcons Falco mexicanus
  • hawks Accipiter
  • hawks Buteo

Ecosys­tem Roles

Black-tailed prairie dogs play a num­ber of vital roles in their ecosys­tem. They mod­ify the veg­e­ta­tional com­mu­nity, aer­ate the soil, pro­vide food and shel­ter for a num­ber of preda­tors, and pro­vide homes for a num­ber of par­a­sites. Each of these roles has ex­ten­sive im­pact on the ecosys­tem. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

Prairie dogs mod­ify the veg­e­ta­tional com­mu­nity in their habi­tat in two dis­tinct ways. First, and most con­spic­u­ous, the veg­e­ta­tion found within prairie dog colonies is dra­mat­i­cally shorter than the veg­e­ta­tion in sur­round­ing areas. Al­though C. lu­dovi­cianus ap­pears to col­o­nize areas where the veg­e­ta­tion is al­ready short, they still ac­tively mod­ify the land­scape after col­o­niz­ing an area. The short veg­e­ta­tion re­sults from a com­bi­na­tion of for­ag­ing be­hav­ior and ac­tive trim­ming by these ro­dents. Shorter veg­e­ta­tion seems to ben­e­fit the prairie dogs by in­creas­ing vis­i­bil­ity, and pre­sum­ably, as­sist­ing in de­tec­tion of preda­tors. Sec­ond, through some mech­a­nism as yet un­known, the prairie dogs fa­cil­i­tate the growth of cer­tain plants within their com­mu­ni­ties. Some of these plants are only rarely found on the prairie out­side of prairie dog towns. (Hoog­land, 1995)

As a prey species, black-tailed prairie dogs pro­vide food for other an­i­mals, in­clud­ing mam­mals, snakes, and birds of prey. Since they are pri­mary con­sumers, they pro­vide a vital link in food webs. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996; Nowak, 1999)

Of spe­cial note is the re­la­tion­ship be­tween black-footed fer­rets and C. lu­dovi­cianus. Black-footed fer­rets are highly en­dan­gered mam­mals, the near ex­tinc­tion of which was in­ti­mately tied to their re­liance on prairie dog colonies for food and shel­ter. Be­cause of the large scale erad­i­ca­tion of C. lu­dovi­cianus from range­lands, black-footed fer­rets were un­able to sus­tain an ef­fec­tive wild pop­u­la­tion. Al­though cap­tive breed­ing of these fer­rets has helped to re­store the pop­u­la­tion, their con­tin­ued sur­vival de­pends on the avail­abil­ity of prairie dog colonies in which they can live. Some au­thors have sug­gested that pre­da­tion by fer­rets has set black-tailed prairie dogs apart from other species in the genus Cyno­mys, and may ac­count for the higher lev­els of colo­nial­ity and so­cial­ity seen in this species. (Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1995; Nowak, 1999)

One of the costs of colo­nial­ity that C. lu­dovi­cianus faces is a height­ened level of parisitism. Black-tailed prairie dogs har­bor nu­mer­ous fleas, lice, and ticks. In ad­di­tion to the dis­com­fort that these par­a­sites in­flict, they in­fect the prairie dogs with dis­eases. For ex­am­ple, fleas trans­mit bubonic plague caus­ing bac­te­ria (Pas­turella pestis). Plague, in ad­di­tion to threat­en­ing the prairie dogs, can be trans­mit­ted to hu­mans. (Hoog­land, 1995; Nowak, 1999; Hoog­land, 1995; Nowak, 1999; Hoog­land, 1995; Nowak, 1999)

• Ecosystem Impact
• creates habitat
• soil aeration
• keystone species

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Black-tailed prairie dogs are ben­e­fi­cial to hu­mans in a va­ri­ety of ways. They may help the veg­e­ta­tion in ways which ben­e­fit do­mes­tic cat­tle and horses. Be­cause of their ex­ca­va­tion of the soil and clip­ping of veg­e­ta­tion, as well as their fecal ma­te­r­ial and urine, many plants re­ceive fer­til­iza­tion and op­ti­mal grow­ing con­di­tions. Bison, prong­horn an­te­lope, and do­mes­tic live­stock pre­fer for for­age at the sites of prairie dog colonies when such are avail­able. Be­yond their util­ity in mod­i­fy­ing the veg­e­ta­tion to the lik­ing of live­stock, black-tailed prairie dogs have been used in the lab­o­ra­tory for stud­ies of gall­stones. Prairie dog towns are pop­u­lar among sight­seers in the Amer­i­can west. In ad­di­tion, prarie dogs are said to make ex­cel­lent pets if cap­tured young. His­tor­i­cally, these an­i­mals have pro­vided food for na­tive amer­i­cans. (Hoff­man, 1999; Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• food
• ecotourism
• research and education
• produces fertilizer

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

As is the case for their pos­i­tive eco­nomic im­pact on hu­mans, the neg­a­tive im­pact of these an­i­mals on hu­mans is var­ied. Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus has his­tor­i­cally been con­sid­ered a pest species, al­though most of the grounds for view­ing it as such have been mis­taken. Prairie dogs have been known to de­stroy crops of corn, wheat, al­falfa, hay, sorghum, pota­toes and can­taloupes, caus­ing some con­cern for agri­cul­ture. Al­though they are re­ported to com­pete with cat­tle and sheep for for­age, there is ac­tu­ally lit­tle di­etary over­lap with these species. Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus bur­row sys­tems are al­leged to pre­sent haz­ards to cat­tle and horses, mak­ing bro­ken legs a threat. How­ever, there are ac­tu­ally very few leg frac­tures in do­mes­tic live­stock at­trib­ut­able to prairie dog bur­rows. Also, as dis­cussed under "Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive", the ben­e­fits of C. lu­dovi­cianus to the veg­e­ta­tional com­mu­nity may far out­weigh the pos­si­ble threat this species poses to agri­cul­ture. Prairie dogs may serve as a reser­voir for spot­ted fever and bubonic plague. (Hoff­man, 1999; Hoog­land, 1995; Hoog­land, 1996; Nowak, 1999)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
• crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

His­tor­i­cally, prairie dogs were vil­li­fied by ranch­ers, and ef­forts were made to er­rad­i­cate en­tire pop­u­la­tions. Al­though not as com­mon as they once were, many prairie dog colonies per­sist in pro­tected areas. (Hoff­man, 1999; Hoog­land, 1996; Nowak, 1999)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (au­thor, ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Ref­er­ences

Hoff­man, R. 1999. Black-tailed prairie dog (Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus). Pp. 445-447 in D Wil­son, S Ruff, eds. The Smith­son­ian Book of North Amer­i­can Mam­mals. Wash­ing­ton, DC and Lon­don: The Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion Press.

Hoog­land, J. 1995. The black-tailed prairie dog: So­cial life of a bur­row­ing mam­mal. Chicago: Chicago Uni­ver­sity Press.

Hoog­land, J. 1996. Cyno­mys lu­dovi­cianus. Mam­malian Species, 535: 1-10.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Sixth Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.